These are the regular devotional thoughts of Pastor Marvin McKenzie from Bible Baptist Church in Puyallup Washington.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Galatians 5:5 (JV) Eternal Failure

Galatians 5:5 (KJV)For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

The thrust of the whole book of Galatians is to contrast the flesh and the Spirit and to once and for all decimate any notion of earning true righteousness through fleshly obedience to the law.

The flesh attempts to work out righteousness. Those involved come to see themselves as righteous based upon their success in that obedience. The more they obey, the more righteous they see themselves. Thus they are prone to self-righteous pride and a judgmental heart towards those who have not attained their level of obedience. They see themselves as righteous and refuse to see their own unrighteousness.

Believers on the other hand have a hope. They know they are not righteous therefore they have no reason to judge others. By faith they wait for that hope for righteousness to be finally fulfilled by God.

Believers obey but they do so for different reasons than those who walk in the flesh. They obey from the position of hope. The flesh obeys from the position of work.

The one obeys because of the promise of God the other obeys because of the power of the flesh.

The one has a Biblical expectation of fulfillment; the other faces the shattered reality of eternal failure.

To my readers:I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others

Galatians 5:5 (JV) Eternal Failure

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at Bible Baptist Church Fundraiser. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

No comments:

Post a Comment

His Name Is Jesus

About Me

I was born in the Pacific Northwest and have lived the majority of my life right here. I became a Christian at the age of 18. God has allowed me to pastor Baptist churches in Washington and Oregon for the better part of 30 years. I have also enjoyed the opportunity to serve as the executive vice president of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, CA and move with the college to become Heartland Baptist Bible College in Oklahoma City, OK.